Insertion of sliced food products such as bacon slices into packaging receptacles such as trays is commonly done manually. The packaging receptacles may then be moved to a sealing area, for example a modified-atmosphere packaging area, where the packaging receptacle is sealed with a plastic film.
In addition to the labour costs involved, when packing into packaging receptacles by hand it is difficult to minimise the amount of packaging material that is used.
Also, due to this manual handling, grease originating from the hands/gloves of the operators is frequently left on the packaging receptacles which may cause severe problems when sealing the packaging receptacles.
Accordingly, the commonly used packaging methods are not only costly due to the labour needed, but also the packing methods are environmentally unfriendly due to the excess of packing material being used.